Moving a mobile home with pickup

[CowwFace]

Hey List,

It's a bit off topic, but reading these post reminded me when I was a kid I worked in a Mexican restaurant in Bismarck ND... I had just mopped the floor in the evening and a cheese delivery guy came real late. Anywho, neither of us thought a bit about it and he had a handcart (2 wheel dolly) with about 100lb of cheeze on it.. the cooler was down 1 flight of stairs (Split level type stairs with a 180 turn 1/2 way down) .. After I opened the door for him, I went back to swabbin'.

He dropped the wheels of that handcart down that first step.. he was standing on a slippery just mopped floor.. and ZING!!!! he disappeared down that staircase .. looked like he was riding a snowmobile... Apparently heavy boxes of shredded cheese make a good impact dissipation device.. he was un-injured .. but we did have a good laugh... hehhe... carried the rest of the cheese down one box at a time.

Could have used that dozer I guess...

 

[Diamondpilot]

No where are the pictures of that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had some on my old phone but it got dropped in the lake. I really do not want any proof it was done.:thumbsup: It was kind of a just do it and hope we dont get caught things.

If you go on You Tube there are all types of MH's being moved with 1 ton and 3/4 ton diesels. Thats where I got the idea.

Chris

 

[soal man]

About 15 years ago I helped a friend move a 12x60(ish) about 15-20 miles through the back roads. It took two days and I remember the trailer would push the truck a good bit when he tried to stop. The last turn was onto a gravel road and all I remember was when he made the turn and hit the gravel, the trailer pushed his F-350 right into the ditch.

This type of job causes the "pucker factor" to be a little bit higher than I'm comfortable with.

I'll never do it again.

 

[Bikewanderer]

Well, I didn't do it. I wasn't too worried about the truck. I've had 7k lbs in the bed and haul 5500 lbs regularly, and gross at 26k on a regular basis...

She didn't call me this week and was flighty to begin with. She offered me $750 to do it, of which I figured $350 to be expenses. But still- $400 for a day's work looked good to me.

I was worried about the brakes and liability. Those two things kept me from following up with her.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

[jake98]

and was flighty to begin with.
Thanks for the advice everyone!

maybe that's not what she meant by 'would you help me move my trailer'..

 

[6011Artist]

I moved m/h's for over 20 yrs and I wouldn't want to do it with a 1 ton. Yes, it is possible to sucessfully do it, but when all **** breaks loose, I want more weight and brakes than a 1 ton offers to keep everything under control. And it's not just about you keeping yourself under control. You got to carry yourself in a way to keep it under control when some fool we share the road with does something crazy. He may be the reason you ended up in the ditch, but you are still in the ditch.

Electric brakes. In the beginning, we used the brake controls for a camper. We eventually eliminated the break controls and wired them straight on a toggle switch on the dash giving the full 12 volts to the brakes. The brakes usually weren't worth a cuss so you wanted full power to get what you could out of them.

Anytime something has been sitting that many years, checking/repacking the wheel bearings is a no brainer.

Tire pressure. From experience, put 70 lbs of air in it even if it is cracked and dry rotted. With less air pressure, the sidewalls take a beating. And you'd be surprised at how well some of those old dry rotted tires with cracks stay together if not overloaded.

Good decision on not moving it. You do this sort of thing with your own projects. When it is done for hire, the customer wants the most for their money and when things go wrong, you find yourself in the middle taking the beating. Go professional or don't go if for hire.

These suggestions were made with 20+ yrs and over a million miles under the belt with a "wobbly box" on the ball.

 

[6011Artist]

dirtyoldman, one more thought. Magnetic lights don't stick too well on aluminum siding. You would have needed to make steel brackets to mount on the back for your lights to sit on.

If anyone ever needs a set of lights to move any kind of long load, take an extension cord, cut the ends off, works perfect.

 

[chopped]

lol Jake... took me afew to get it.